Error while installing Oblivion

Thanks Benbs,

I copied the disk without errors, so I am going to try to install it now that I have a back up and I'l let you know if I'm successful or not.

I should have added, that there are at least two other solutions open to you:
1. Dual boot to XP or another OS that it works on (If you have a license)
2. Install VMware, VirtualPC, VirtualBox or another virtualised solution and run Oblivion on that.

I've run Oblivion on VMware Workstation (It's free after you register) and I thought it was fine. If you're a hard core graphics squeezing gamer with a very high end card then this solution may not be the best for you. But f for me on a 22inch monitor the graphics emulation worked as good as my graphics card so it was perfect. If I can't get it installed on Win7 and I can on VMware again i'll post screen prints for you.

EDIT: I still have it on my games VMware machine. Here's a quick screen print from the very start of the game. It's at 1280x960 but I have options to go up to 2048 x 1536 if your card can handle it.

Ok Good News, despite the crack in the disk I was able to install Oblivion and play it on my windows 7 64 bit box.
here's how:

1. Insert the Oblivion Disk

2. Explore it and find the SETUP.EXE

3. Right click on this and send to desktop (Create a Shortcut).

4. On the Compatability tab configure the following
- Tick the Run this program in compatability mode for: box
- Select Windows XP service pack 3 in the drop down
- Tick the Run this program as an administrator box
- Change the settigns for all users if required.
- Press OK.

5. Right click on the shortcut and select properties

6. On the shortcut tab click ADVANCED

7. Tick the Run as Administrator box and leave the Run in a Separate memory space box ticked (this makes it run in a separate memory process and more or less protects windows from the game)

8. After Installation repeat the process on the Obvlion shortcut to run it.

benbs said:

hi again,
i tried to run the setup by following the instruction on your last comment. still the same problem appears..
I thought about the VMWare, but i read somewhere that the graphics setting in it is minimal, so running games is impossible..
so are there things i need to do before trying to run the game (VMWare settings etc)?
ill try it tomorrow and post the results...

thank you so much for your help!

You're welcome.

I thought that the separate memory space might have got you through as it did for me. I have the Australian release of the Game of the Year (GOTY) edition. Perhaps my installer is newer.

Some other thoughts, try these in order:
- Run windows update
- Update all hardware drivers from the manufacturers website (not MS update)
- Check for any Oblivion patches
- Disable all non essential programs that are currently running in memory by killing any autostarts that aren't part of windows and using MSCONFIG to remove or disable startup entries. Remember to check the startup folder and finally task manager for any others. We want to give as little chance for interference as possible.
- Run an SFC /SCANNOW from an elevated command prompt to ensure Windows system files are legit.
- Make sure that you have the latest windows installer version (which I think is version 5 for Windows 7)
- Turn off your firewall and antivirus (just temporarily)
- Run the setup.exe in a separate memory process and as admin.

From having a search, a least two users reported this issue with Oblivion when blackberry software was installed on their PC... just in case you have it.

If all else fails, talk to Bethesda support, they should know http://support.bethsoft.com/

RE: VMWARE - There's no way that mine is set to lowest graphics. I think Oblivion autoset it to Medium. The VMware installation is stock standard. I just adjusted the settings on the game options menu to change the screen size and graphics quality.

Still no good and we've ticked of a large number of standard issues.

benbs said:

- im not sure what do you mean about running in a seperate memory process.

Windows 7 allows you to run 16bit programs in a separated virtual memory space, away from the OS and other software. I just realized that our Oblivion is a 32bit app, so it runs in its own visualized space anyway *slaps forehead*.

benbs said:

and i wish i had a blackberry software, as i wish i had a blackberry phone :P

That's funny, my first laugh of the day goes to you. At least we can see some humor in this.

benbs said:

the sfc scan is now completed, everything is alright :S

As suspected. *damn*

benbs said:

- the windows installer was always my top suspect as the source of the problem. however i have version 5 (comes with win 7 as a default), and i dont know how can i update/fix/reinstall it.

This installer is very different to previous versions; but the previous versions were defiantly a culprit according to my Google search (and your early gut feel). We could try to repair it. It's a shot in the dark, but as I'm/we're out of ideas you could give it a go.

Trouble Shooting Windows Installer

1. The first thing to check would be the Disabled Sessions registry entry HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions backup (right click and Export) then remove everything except "(Default)".
2. Check the service configuration by typing services.msc into RUN or SEARCH and pressing ENTER. Scroll down your Services and look for Windows Installer, ensure that this is set to 'Manual" and that the path to Executable is C:\Windows\system32\msiexec.exe /V (providing that C is your Windows drive).
3. Check the MSIEXEC.exe, mine is the 64bit and is version 5.0.7600.16385, it is attached in case you want to replace (and you have a 64 bit machine). If you have a 32 bit OS, then get yours from your Installation Media, MSupdate or the MS website (I couldn't find a link sorry).
4. Re-register msiexec. Open an elevated command prompt and type in msiexec /unreg then press ENTER. Follow this with msiexec /regserver and ENTER to re-register.

Also If you have Visual Studio Installed then let me know, as there might be some extra things to look at.

Did you contact Bethusda?

Timo

PS: Another long-shot. If you install the windows installer cleanup utility can you see any reference to Oblivion, if so use the utility to delete it.

EDIT: In an effort to give you options, you could also try XP mode.

Personally I'd stick with VMware as it keeps my games separate from my OS. For the last year I've created various VMware machines for purposes such as Games, programming and scripting, Media burning and editing, Other OS' (Macintosh, Linux, Server 2008, Vista),and Security (hack and crack testing.. all legit of course. I do work in IT!). I find that i fry my OS less when I install less on it. But admittedly i do really mess with mine and this approach is not for everyone.

I'm thinking VMware is the way to go too.

RE: Visual Studio - I stumbled across this bug last year with the 2008 visual studio version; where it caused msiexec to fail. it may not be the same issue but worth a look.
1. Go to %programfiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies (you may need to swap out the path to fit your version of visual studio).
2. Create an "en" folder.
3. Copy all files of its parent folder to it.
4. Restart msiexec

By the way of you are a student, grab the latest copy for free from Dreamspark

I'll also try to find the location of msiexec on the installation medi...a.. get back to with that later.